“He collapsed an hour ago. He’s in a coma.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. The man who had unknowingly kept me safe, the only leverage I had over Marco… was now unconscious. My last hope, slipping through my fingers.
My throat felt tight. “Is he going to wake up?”
A beat of silence. Then, Marco’s voice, low and strained. “The doctors don’t know. And Olivia? No one can help you now.” He turned off the call.
A bitter taste filled my mouth. Fate wasn’t just pulling me down—it was burying me alive.
—
I sat in my car outside the hospital, staring blankly at the glass doors. People came and went, their lives moving forward, untouched by the wreckage of mine.
I wanted to go inside. I wanted to see Marco’s grandfather, to tell him how sorry I was that he had to suffer because of all this. Because of Marco. Because of me. But it wouldn’t change anything.
I was alone now. Truly alone.
No. Not alone.
My fingers tightened aroud my phone as I pulled up a number. A number I swore I’d never call again.
My chest ached as I hit dial. One ring. Two. Then, a deep, familiar voice.
“Olivia?”
Tears burned my eyes at the warmth in Damian’s tone, at the way he still said my name like it meant something.